One of the biggest problems that English learners in Japan face is that schools and teachers do not give them enough communication practice, and so they don’t have enough intercultural communication skills. As an English teacher, this is my main focus: to teach my students not just what words mean, or how to use grammar, but how to communicate with real native speakers.

Maybe the most important part of this is learning how to deal with communication difficulties.

No matter how much you study or how much vocabulary you memorize or how much grammar you understand, you will have problems communicating with native speakers. But it’s not your fault. Communicating in another language in a foreign setting is difficult. There are many things to consider and it takes a lot of practice to get used to it.

I’ve spent a long time teaching and paid attention to when communication breakdowns happened and what caused them. I’d like to share with you some very simple strategies that I’ve taught my students to help them deal with three very common communication problems that happen when speaking to native English speakers.

1. Sometimes Native English Speakers talk really fast

It’s an exaggeration, but this video illustrates how English sounds to English learners sometimes.

LOL

Have you ever felt like this? It’s enough to make someone panic! But what can you do?

Well, as I often tell my students, trying to practice English enough so that you can understand everything he says is going to take a long time, and when someone is talking to you really fast right now, you can’t say “please wait a few years until my listening improves.” You have to respond.

That’s what communication is all about: knowing how to respond. You have to say something so the speaker knows he or she is talking too fast for you. What should you say? That’s simple:

“(I’m sorry), Could you speak more slowly (please)?”

Very simple. But it lets the other person know very clearly that they are speaking too quickly for you.

However, even though this is a clear response, don’t expect every native speaker to slow down, or even continue to slow down. For some people, speaking very quickly is a habit, and it’s hard for them to slow down. Most native English speakers do not understand how hard it is for non-native speakers to catch everything they’re saying. But don’t give up! Keep responding using the question above (and hope that they slow down!).

Another important note, especially when you are talking to people who speak fast: you may have to interrupt them. In Western culture, interrupting is not as rude as it is in Japanese culture. We often expect to be interrupted, so it’s okay. Think about this: which would be better:

A. To talk to someone for a long time and realize they didn’t understand anything you said (so you have to say everything again) or

B. To be interrupted after just a few seconds, but be understood by the listener?

Most native English speakers would probably say B is better. So even though it feels awkward, please don’t hesitate to interrupt if you are having trouble understanding a native speaker’s English!

2. Sometimes it’s really hard to hear someone

Have you ever talked to someone really quiet, or in a really noisy place or (I get this one a lot) on the phone and just couldn’t hear them? It can be frustrating, not knowing if your listening is bad or if you’re just not hearing them clearly.

Your response in this case is also very simple:

“(I’m sorry) I can’t hear you.”

You could also ask

“(I’m sorry), could you (please) speak up?”

The second one is a request for the other person to increase the volume of their voice.

This almost always works, especially on the phone.

The last one is a very common and very important one. I highly recommend using it and – if you can – practicing it when you meet foreigners.

3. You don’t recognize a word or expression that a native speaker uses.

English is filled with difficult vocabulary, complex grammar forms, weird idioms and a plethora of ways to use even the simplest vocabulary. It’s impossible to memorize everything before you have conversations. That’s okay, but what that means is there will be times that a native speaker uses a word or expression you will not understand, or even have trouble catching.

What do most English learners do in these situations?

Ignore it

Pretend they understood

Respond in an interculturally inappropriate way (more on this in the future)

Parrot (more on this in the future too, I promise!)

Panic

Are any of these responses appropriate? Well, if the information is not too important, they might be fine. But if it is important, then no! You need to get that information!

So what do most people do?

“What does [sounds they caught] mean?”

This is fine if you are excellent at catching English, but most people aren’t, because English pronunciation is really hard.

The reason that asking this question first is a mistake is because it makes a false assumption:

“If I heard a word that I didn’t recognize it means it’s a word I don’t understand.”

Notice I use the word recognize. Why is this?

Because before you can understand a word, you have to be able to hear it!

This is really, really important, so please take note of this: when speakers send their message to you – that is, when they speak to you – it has to be filtered through your ears before you can understand! So if you misheard it, then of course you won’t understand it: you caught the wrong word or words! So many times a big problem started because I said something that my students actually understand, but because they didn’t hear it correctly, they thought I was saying something new!

Okay, so what can we do about this? Glad you asked.

Ask this question FIRST instead:

“Did you say [word or words you heard]?”

This does two things:

It’s a simple confirmation question, so it keeps the response simple. The other person will either say “Yes” or “No, I said…”. Keep the communication simple!

It confirms that either you heard the word or words correctly, or that the problem was that you misheard them (and you get to hear them again!)

After you are able to confirm that you heard correctly, THEN you can ask:

“What does [word or words] mean?”

So remember:

Step One: Confirm your listening (Did you say…?)

Step Two: Ask about the meaning (What does… mean?)

Hope that was helpful! Don’t hesitate to comment or ask questions! You can leave me a message here or catch me on twitter.

Last time we talked about parts of speech. So this time, let’s talk about prepositions!

Prepositions have many functions, but one of their most common and basic ones is indicating time. In many languages, you can use the same one or two prepositions to talk about time, but in English there are a lot more!

But if you know which prepositions to use, there are some simple rules that you can follow that will help you with most conversations about time.

So let’s talk about the three most fundamental (and confusing!) prepositions: at, on, and in.

At

At is used for clock time.

At six o’clock

At seven thirty-five

At midnight

“I’m going to bed at ten o’clock tonight.”

“What time does the show start?”

“At 6:30.”

Be careful, though! Many English learners think “midnight” and “noon” refer to times of day instead of clock times, but they are clock times. Specifically, midnight is 12:00am (when most people are asleep) and noon is 12:00pm (when many people are eating lunch). So, for example, 12:01am is NOT midnight and 12:01pm is NOT noon.

At is also used for one more time expression: night.

At night

“I usually watch TV at night.”

“When do you exercise?”

“Usually at night.”

On

On is used for single days.

On Monday

On January 10th

On my birthday

On Christmas

“Work starts again on Monday.”

“What are you going to do on your birthday?”

“When is your husband coming back from his business trip?”

“On the 4th.”

In

In is used for any period of time longer than a day.

In December (one month)

In 2015 (one year)

In the summer (about three months)

“I’m moving to Tokyo in January.”

“I’m going to go surfing in the summer.”

“When did you start working here?”

“In 2010.”

In is also used to talk about times of day.

In the morning

In the afternoon

In the evening

“I exercised in the morning.”

“I’m going to meet some friends in the evening.”

“When do you take a nap?”

“In the afternoon.”

In can also be used to talk about a point in the future.

In two days.

In a few days.

In 2020.

“I’m going to move in three weeks.”

“The movie is going to start in an hour.”

“When will dinner be ready?”

“In just a few minutes.”

That’s it for now! Check back in a couple weeks to see how to use these prepositions to talk about locations and directions!

I often get students asking me how to improve their English at home, or how to improve their English by themselves. This is a great question. Let me introduce a new way to improve not only your speaking, but your vocabulary and grammar too:

Record yourself speaking English.

Wait, what? How would that help me improve my English?

I’m glad you asked.

So what are the four reasons it’s a good idea to record yourself speaking English?

1. It’s active practice

When you are recording yourself speaking English, it means you are practicing! For many of us, it’s hard to find another native speaker who will practice with us. Even if we can find someone, it’s not always easy to do it regularly. Sometimes they are busy, or we become busy. But who says you have to have another partner just to speak English? Instead of just sitting and reading or listening, why not be a little more active and speak! Speaking by yourself is better than not speaking at all, and it’s (usually) much more active than just listening or reading.

2. It will improve your fluency

I noticed something very interesting with my students who started recording themselves: they started speaking much more smoothly and fluidly. This change happened immediately in their recordings, and gradually during our lessons. Why? Because when you are talking to yourself, there is no pressure from anyone else! No one is pressuring you to speak faster or speak correctly. You can take your time, speak at your pace, and even make mistakes and there’s no penalty! It’s a great way to take the pressure off and just speak. You may even be surprised at how good your English actually is when you just relax.

3. You can improve your English by revising

“Ok,” you might be saying, “but why should I record it? Why not just talk out loud?” This is a good question! Let me ask you another one: why keep an English journal? So you have something to look over in the future! Journal writing is a way to keep a record of what you’ve done and it allows you to go over past mistakes as you learn more English to improve your English even further! In the same way, you can listen to an audio recording again and catch mistakes. Sometimes you make mistakes while you are speaking that you don’t even realize! Recording yourself speaking helps with this. You can also share it with a teacher so she can help you revise, but you don’t have to.

4. You can improve your English by reflecting

The final and maybe most important reason to record yourself is because it gives you opportunities for reflective practice. Reflective practice is, very simply, thinking about your learning! Normally, when people study or learn something, they just figure out what to do, do it, and that’s it. Instead, you can think about what you did. In this case, it means listening to your recording, and stopping at some points and thinking:

“Was that correct?”

“Was that natural?”

“Is there another way to say that?”

“Would a native speaker say it that way?”

“What’s the different between the word/expression I used and another similar one?”

“Could I have said this instead?”

Even if you don’t know the answers to the questions you think of, write them down! The next time you have an opportunity, ask a native speaker (like me!) your questions. Alternatively, you could experiment: try thinking of other ways to say what you said, and try them out with native speakers. Reflective practice is the best way to grow as an English learner.

So there you have it! Four good reasons to record yourself speaking English. You can do it as often as you want, as long as you want. I recommend doing it at least once a week, 3-5 times a week is better. If you are not sure what to talk about, start very short. Even just one minute is enough!

So give it a try! Let me know how it goes on twitter or in the comments, and feel free to ask me any questions that come up!

By the way, if you want some great ideas for speaking (or writing) topics, check out this website:

Today I’d like to talk about a really important aspect of grammar called parts of speech. No, parts of speech have nothing to do with making speeches! They are a way of categorizing different words. It helps us know how to use those words. So let’s take a look at the parts of speech right now:

Nouns

Words that are things, people, places or ideas

Pen, car, dog, café, teacher, music, experience

Verbs

Words that are states or actions

Feel, have, do, go, try, collect, experience

Adjectives

Words that describe nouns

Big, tall, expensive, convenient, strict, soft, interesting

Adverbs

Words that describe verbs or adjectives

Quickly, carefully, really, very, somewhat

Prepositions

Words that tell us the time, location or direction of something; also separates two words

In, at, on, for, with, to, of

Pronouns

Words that replace nouns

I, you, he, she, it, they, them, we, us, me

Conjunctions

Words that connect other parts of speech or sentences

And, or, but, because, since, when

Interjections

Words or expressions that are used alone

Hey, huh, oh, ah, oops, ouch

Articles

Words that go with nouns to indicate which or how many

The, a, an, no

Many teachers consider pronouns a separate category, but some teachers consider it part of nouns as well.

Ok, so what? Why are parts of speech so important?

On a very basic level, they tell us how to use words. For example, what is wrong with this sentence?

“The dog floor.”

That’s right, there’s no verb connecting the two nouns! If someone said this to you, what would you do? If we don’t apply the parts of speech properly, it’s hard to understand other people.

How about this one?

“I ate pizza my house.”

In this case, it is missing a preposition to separate the two nouns (“pizza” and “my house”). Without the preposition (I ate pizza at my house) it’s very difficult to understand.

More importantly though, sometimes the same word is a different part of speech in different languages. For instance, the word “confuse” is a verb (a transitive verb), so it connects a subject and an object like this:

“This book confuses me.”

But in Japanese, it is only an adjective – ややこしい – so it is used differently:

この本がややこしい。

So very often when my students try to translate this into English, they say something like:

“This book is confuse me.”

Do you see the problem there? Both “is” and “confuse” are verbs, so the sentence pattern became S-V-V-O, which is incorrect! As you can see, recognizing parts of speech in the language you are studying is important.

So when you learn new vocabulary, be sure to find out what part of speech it is and practice using it with other parts of speech!

Knowing these eight categories is very helpful, but as your English improves, you will need to know more about each one! There are different types of nouns and verbs and prepositions. If you know about each type, you can use them even more naturally and become even more fluent!

Probably the most difficult part of speech is prepositions. Many of my students hate prepositions, and I don’t blame them! There are about 150 prepositions in English. We only use about half of those in common speech, but that’s still a lot! Japanese doesn’t have nearly as many. They are a big challenge, so in the near future I’ll talk a little bit about a few of the most common prepositions and how to use them naturally. Hope to see you then!

Would you like more resources on parts of speech? Check out these links:

Okay, for some reason I thought I already posted this, but apparently I didn’t, so I’m going to start over again.

Here is a list of words which I have used in my blogs. I’ve compiled them to help you build your vocabulary for conversation. These words are more useful in day-to-day conversation than the technical words, and there will be a lot of them!

Like the Technical Glossary, I’ll be updating this one once in awhile, so be sure to check back!

Because this list will be so long, I’m going to format it differently. It will look like this:

Word (part of speech): Japanese

– Meaning

“Example sentence”

Here you go!

A

Acceptable (adj): 容認できる

– Can be accepted

“Being late to work every day is unacceptable.”

Accurate(ly) (adj/adv): 適切な・に

– Within acceptable limits of a standard or fact

“This weight scale is very accurate, so it’s worth the purchase.”

Acquire (v): 習得する、身に付ける

– get by effort or experience

“The best way to acquire a language is to use it.”

Activity (n): 活発

– State of being active

“It’s important that children engage in activity for their growth.”

Adamant (adj): 断固とした

– very determined, not willing to shake, definite

“He was very adamant about drinking coffee at Starbucks instead of Cafe Veloce, I don’t know what his problem is.”

Address (v): 向けて言う

– Direct the attention to

“We really need to address this problem as soon as possible.”

Adopt (v): 採用する

– Take and follow

“We need to adopt a new plan, the old one isn’t working.”

Advantage(s) (n): 利益

– Something beneficial or favorable.

“Being good-looking is an advantage in life.”

Affect (v): 及ばす、影響する

– Have an influence in changing

“That movie affected me very deeply.”

Apply (v): 適用する

– Put into special use, put into action

“Don’t just memorize new vocabulary, apply it, too!

Approach(es) (n): 取り込み方

– A way or means to something; a method for dealing with something

“A deep learning approach is better than a surface one.”

Attractive (adj): 魅力的な

– Physically pleasing to look at

“Which actors do you think are most attractive?”

Autonomous (adj): 自治権のある

– Independent in mind, self-directed

“Letting children take care of themselves helps them become more autonomous.”

B

Beauty (n): 美しさ

– An appearance or feeling that people like.

“Some people find beauty in traditional Japanese temples.”

Beholder(s) (n): 見る人

– A person who looks at something.

“Whether or not this painting is beautiful depends on the beholder.”

Beneficial (adj): 有利な

– producing a favorable result

“They say exercise is beneficial to your health.”

Besides (prep): 以外に

– in addition to, other than, except for

“Besides soccer, I also play baseball and tennis.”

Bias (n): 偏見

– an unfair act based on prejudice

“Don’t make a decision based on bias.”

Biased (adj): 偏した

– showing bias

“Action movies often portray men and women in a biased way.”

Birthrate (n): 出生率

– The ratio of total births to total population; how many babies are born compared to the population

“The birthrate in Japan has steadily been going down.”

Bother (v): せがむ

– cause to be irritated or annoyed

“Your smoking is bothering me so please stop.”

Bow (v): お辞儀する

– Incline the body or head in greeting

“In Japan, people often bow to each other.”

Broadcast media (n): 電波媒体

– TV and radio

“In the U.S., the broadcast media is regulated so that it is appropriate for children.”

Broaden (v): 広める

– Make broad or broader

“Travel really broadens your horizons.”

C

Capable (adj): 可能、行う能力がある

– possible, having the ability to do

“You can rely on him, he’s a very capable guy.”

Cause (v): 引き起こす、もたらす

– Bring about, be the cause, be the reason

“The earthquake caused a lot of damage.”

Certain (adj): ある

– fixed, definite

“Certain teachers are better at teaching conversation.”

Childhood (adj): 幼い

– The time or state of being a child

“I have very fond memories of my childhood.”

Citizen(s) (n): 公民

– A person who is a resident of a city or country

“I was born in Japan, but now I’m an American citizen.”

Close (adj): 親しい

– Feeling intimate, having a strong relationship

“She’s a very close friend, so I can tell her anything.”

Cognitive (adj): 認知の、認知的な

– relating to or about thinking

“Learning is a great cognitive experience.”

Combat (v): 闘争する

– struggle against

“We need to combat prejudice in any way we can.”

Commonalit(y/ies) (n): 共通点、共通性

– Something that is shared or common among two or more people

“Having commonalities is important for maintaining friendships.”

Compete (v): 競争する

– Strive against each other to win or get something

“I love to compete by playing sports.”

Competition (n): 競争

– Striving against others to win or get something.

“Competition on Wall Street is fierce!”

Compulsory (adj): 義務的な

– Required, obligatory

“Education is compulsory in many countries in the world.”

Conservative (adj): 保守主義の

– preferring traditional views and values.

“My dad doesn’t want to see many changes in politics, he’s very conservative.”

Condition (v): 慣らす

– cause to be in a certain condition

“Schools condition us to be perfect instead of creative.”

Consider N… (v): 。。だと考える

– Think of s/o as s/t, Regard s/o as s/t

“I consider you my best friend.”

Considerate (adj): 思いやりのある

– Regarding the feelings or needs of others.

“Thank you for being so considerate, and I’m sorry I was so selfish.”

Consistent(ly) (adj/adv): いつもと同じ

– reliable, steady

“It’s important to study consistently if you want to improve.”

Contribute (v): 貢献する

– help bring about a result

“All the stress from work probably contributed to you getting a cold.”

Cosmetic (adj): 美顔用の

– Improving the physical appearance of something

“She’s considering getting cosmetic surgery to hide her wrinkles.”

Countless (adj): 無数の

– incapable of being counted; both countless and innumerable are basically the same.

For those of you who missed it, two weeks I posted about three myths regarding learning English. If you haven’t checked it out, please do! It may help you on your journey towards English mastery!

Now, on to the last three!

Myth #4: If you are studying and practicing well, you shouldn’t be making mistakes.

A lot of English learners, my students included, get very frustrated about making mistakes. It seems like no matter how much they learn, they keep making mistakes. But if you’ve been making a lot of effort and studying hard, shouldn’t you make fewer mistakes?

No.

The amount of studying you do has no effect on how many mistakes you’ll make, or how often. Vice versa, the amount of mistakes you make or how often you make mistakes has no bearing on well you are progressing.

In fact, I’d say the better you get, the more mistakes you should make!

Why is that? Well, as you get better, you should realize that making mistakes is how you grow and improve! In other words, the more mistakes you make, the more opportunities you have to get better at English. It’s a natural part of your growth. Learning a foreign language is a life-long process. Even native speakers can get better at their own language.

As you practice English more and more, you should realize just how little effect mistakes actually have on you and your progress. You should realize most people don’t care, or even notice, most of your errors. You should realize that you can make mistakes, even lots of mistakes, and still be a good speaker!

All of this should make you more comfortable with making mistakes.

So, unless you’re making very basic mistakes, mistakes are nothing to worry about.

Myth #5: If you don’t understand what the book or teacher says and you need to ask questions, you’re probably not too smart.

While I think the next myth is probably more prevalent myth, I think this one is the most important one to dispel.

It is absolutely NOT true.

In fact, I want to go so far as to say the opposite is more likely true: the more curious you are, the more you will want to understand, and the more you will want to ask questions. In fact, the more deeply you want to understand something, the more questions you will have! This is the sign of a very intelligent and inquisitive person, not a dummy!

In addition, even though many textbook writers and teachers understand the language or education very well, they aren’t always good at explaining things. Sometimes teachers explain things badly, or too quickly, or not clearly enough.

Every student has his or her own learning style. Yours might be visual – maybe you need to see pictures – or it might be audio – maybe you need a clear explanation that you can think about – or it might be kinesthetic – maybe you need to actually do it yourself to get it – or you might need to sit down and read the information. Your teacher’s style may be different from yours, so they may be teaching in a way that’s easy for them to understand, but not you!

Because learning is your responsibility, it is also your responsibility to ask questions when you don’t understand something. Pretending to understand something is not a good idea.

Myth #6: Learning happens on a straight, even incline.

Many people assume learning goes something like that. You study for one hour today, and next Tuesday and the Wednesday after that, and your improvement will be exactly the same every time.

Wrong.

Think about it. You’re a human being. You have good days and bad days. You have busy days and free days. You get sick some times. Things happen every day that affect your mood and motivation.

Beyond that, your mind works in unusual ways. Sometimes it needs a break, other times it’s ready to receive and integrate lots of information. Sometimes certain study methods don’t work, other times they seem to work perfectly. Some teachers are better than others. Different learners have different strengths. We’re not computers uploading programs. We’re people.

If you want to know what actual learning progress is like, check this out.

Unfortunately, plateaus, troughs and declines are just as common and normal as progress. If you feel stuck, or like you’re even getting worse, that’s nothing to worry about. It’s all a necessary and natural part of the learning experience.

Anyway, I hope I managed to dispel some myths that you are holding! If you have any questions, or if you are wondering about other beliefs regarding learning, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment, send me a message or find me on twitter!

On Monday (April 27th), we’ll discuss a light topic before we head into Golden Week: likes and dislikes! Most of these questions will be pretty simple, so I’m not going to have levels this time, just some sample questions.